What was the internal server error?

If it's throwing an error because you add the or die statement, then there's a problem with your open. Most likely dealing with write permissions. Uncomment this line, and share the error with us:

#use CGI::Carp "fatalToBrowser";
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lol I got it for some reason chmod 777 data.txt fixed the problems. I am posting the code to because I am not sure what went wrong the data.txt was already chmod 666 changing to 777 shouldnt effect it that much. thanks for your help

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI ':standard';
#use CGI::Carp "fatalToBrowser";

$i=param('i');

$i++;

print header;

$dice1=int(rand(6)+1);
$dice2=int(rand(6)+1);

#this line is to see if  it carries over the $i variable
#print "this is $i";

if($i ==1)
{
$firstroll1=$dice1;
$firstroll2= $dice2;
}
#don't forget to chmod 777 data.txt and 755 dice.cgi
if ($i == 1){
open (DICE, ">data.txt")or die print "ERROR $!";;
print DICE "$firstroll1 | $firstroll2";
close DICE;
}elsif ($i > 1){
open (DICE, "data.txt")or die print "ERROR $!";
while (<DICE>) {

($firstroll1,$firstroll2)=split (/\|/);
}

close DICE;}

print "$firstroll1 and $firstroll2";

print "<center>
<table border=1>
<tr><td><img src=http://localhost/pix/dice$dice1.gif>
<td><img src=http://localhost/pix/dice$dice2.gif>
</tr>
</tables>";

print "$firstroll1 and $firstroll2";

if (($dice1 + $dice2 ==7) or ($dice1 + $dice2 ==11)) {
print "you win";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()
}elsif (($dice1 + $dice2 ==12) or ($dice1 + $dice2 ==2)) {
print "you lose";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()

}elsif (($i > 1) and ($dice1 ==$firstroll1) and ($dice2 == $firstroll2
+)) {
print "match";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()


}elsif (($i > 1) and ($dice1 ==$firstroll2) and ($dice2 == $firstroll1
+)) {
print "match";
print "<hr><a href = http://localhost>play again?</a>";
exit()
}


#print "this is roll number $i";
print "<a href=dice.cgi?&i=$i>Roll Again?</a>";
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Cool, here's a few suggestions

• 1) Add use strict; and use warnings; to the beginning of every script. This will require you to declare all your variables with my which will help you avoid spelling errors in your code.
• 2) use CGI::Carp 'fatalsToBrowser': You simply misspelled fatalsToBrowser in your commented out line.
• 3) Don't use a file to save state at all, instead pass additional cgi parameters along with 'i'

Here's a quick clean up of your code with the above suggestions:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use CGI ':standard';
use CGI::Carp "fatalsToBrowser";

use strict;
use warnings;

my $i = 1 + (param('i') || 0);
my $firstroll1 = param('roll1');
my $firstroll2 = param('roll2');

print header;

my $dice1 = 1 + int rand 6;
my $dice2 = 1 + int rand 6;

print "($i) $dice1, $dice2<br>";

if (!$firstroll1 || !$firstroll2) {
    $firstroll1 = $dice1;
    $firstroll2 = $dice2;

    my $sum = $dice1 + $dice2;
    
    if ( $sum == 7 || $sum == 11 ) {
        print "you win";
        print qq{<hr><a href="dice.cgi">play again?</a>};
        exit;
    }
    elsif ( $sum == 2 || $sum == 12 ) {
        print "you lose";
        print qq{<hr><a href="dice.cgi">play again?</a>};
        exit;
    }
    
} else {

    if ($dice1 == $firstroll1 && $dice2 == $firstroll2 ) {
        print "match";
        print qq{<hr><a href="dice.cgi">play again?</a>};
        exit;

    } elsif ($dice1 == $firstroll2 && $dice2 == $firstroll1 ) {
        print "match";
        print qq{<hr><a href="dice.cgi">play again?</a>};
        exit;
    }
}    

print qq{<a href="dice.cgi?i=$i&roll1=$firstroll1&roll2=$firstroll2">R
+oll Again?</a>};
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